Vintage Homes

This is foto is from a present exebihition on vintage homes at
Nordiska Museumet Foto: Peter Segemark

But perhaps this a bit more how most homes really looked in
Sweden in the 1930-40s ...

A picture perfect magazine home

Another museum home - The Aviation Museum in Cape May, NJ
Image from here.

Modern products - Vintage look, part 1

This is the delightful powder of Paul & Joe. They have several pretty make-up products with a vintage look. Especially their nail polishes and varnish bottles.

Perhaps some of you vintage lovers have other products you can recommend ?


This is probably the prettiest clutch I´ve ever seen ! Although new it has a distinct vintage look acquired by the attached vintage ornaments and would go beautifully with a black vintage 1940s dress like say this one below. An Adrian original from Dressing Vintage. This clutch and others can be found in a post by fellow blgger - Greetz from Tiz.

Heightening The Bathroom Experience !

What makes a great bathroom experience ? Well for one it helps to have a bathtub... I know, I know its quicker to take a shower, but if you are like me a) need to relax after a stressful day b) constantly cold or c) just a plain little ole´luxury babe ;) Then there is nothing like a long warm bathtub soak ! And so, I dream of bathrooms worthy of a 1940s Hollywood star like this one...


Gorgeous ! Don´t you just love bathrooms !

The first time I realised that a bathroom could be so much more than just the place where you wash your face was when I rented a furnished apartments were its owner had decorated the whole bathroom in pink including several delightful plastic flamingos !


Or this one ! Both bathroom images are from here.

Ofcourse, not everyone can afford such a sumptuous room like this... Still, it is possible to invest in one truly magnificent piece ...



Me want ! ;)



Or this one ! This small ( but deep) one is great when you don´t have a lot of space ! :) Both bathtubs are from www.antiquebaths.com

And even if you have like, NO money (sort of like me at the moment ...) You can still find ways to add little luxury to your bathroom experience like taking a beautiful body powder puff ...
and dipping it in a gold tin ( both from www.rachelssupply.com )
filled with heavenly vanilla scented body powder and then, after a long soak in the tub, dusting your entire body. I guarantee that you will have a " heightened bathroom experience" no matter what budget your on ! Here is a "make it yourself" recipe from Rachel's supply.


Vanilla Dusting Powder Recipe Leaves a long lasting, pleasant vanilla fragrance on the skin. You will need:

1 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup tapioca starch
8 drops vanilla essential oil
30cc Pure Vanillin Powder

Combine powders and mix well. Add fragrance oil to absorbent cotton pad. Place pad with oil in container with powder, shake or stir well, allow to sit 24 hours, shake or stir again, allow to sit another 24 hours, shake or stir powder, remove pad and discard, place powder into containers, it is ready to use. Makes 2 cups powder

If you can´t be bothered with the whole mixing stuff and just want any easy "fix" Lush has this really nice body talk that you can buy online or in one of their many shops that you can put in any beautiful glass jar of your own choosing.

The shapes of the 1940s

I found this rather amusing... Yet, it fits well with the fashion styles of the 1940s. From the "triangel" shape of the war years, to the hourglass figure of the late 40s ( New Look ) which would later evolve to the distinct very femine look of the 1950s

Snoods !

The women of 1940s wore a lot of turbans, scarfs, bandannas and snoods as a way to relinquishing elegant and elaborate hairstyles for more simple ones thus supporting the war effort by not being wasteful and vain. They were also practical when working in the factories were women were replacing men on the line due to the war.

Some of these head gears however became quite elaborate as these beautiful pictures show where the every day snood has been made into a little work of art that could be worn with an evening dress ! The picture is from ca. 1940 The model standing is wearing a red silk crepe dress, with diamond and ruby jewel and the other, sitting,wears a royal blue silk jersey dress, matching snood, and sapphire and diamond jewels - Image by © Condé Nast Archive/CORBIS

If you have a talent for making things you may want to make your own snood. This is a pattern I found on knitting-crochet.com

From: FlossieB.

I have a snood pattern I made for my daughter 2 years ago. It is from a book I have written in the 1940"s. All of the patterns are from that time but I kind of remember what the one that Scarlet wore in "Gone with the Wind" looked like. I think this will work for you. Very simple and my daughter that has hair to her waist could get all of her hair in it. It is an open weave though. She had to use a pony tail holder and a few bobby pins on her hair to keep it neat.

Materials: (Medium size)
2 oz.4-py yarn (wool) I used acrylic
crochet hook :size 3 I think I used a "G"
1 yd. grosgrain ribbon.
22" round elastic
Gauge: 4 meshes = 3"


Ch 49.
Row 1: 1 long treble crochet (long tr.) in 12th st from hook, *ch 4, skip 4 st on ch . 1 long tr in next st; repeat from* ending ch 4, skip 1 st,. 1 long tr. in last st. Ch 9. Turn.

Row 2: 1 long tr in first long tr of Row below, * ch 4, 1 long tr. in next long tr; repeat from* ending ch 4, 1 long tr in 5th st of turning ch, ch 4, 1 long tr in same st as last long tr. Ch 9, turn.

Repeat last Row 6 times (23 meshes). Ch 9, turn.

Row 9: Skip ch 4, 1 long tr in next long tr., * ch 4, 1 long tr in next long tr; repeat from * ending ch 4, 1 long tr in 5th st of turning ch. (23 meshes). Ch 9, turn.

Repeat last Row 7 times, ending last Row ch 5 instead of 9.

Row 17: Skip ch 4, 1 long tr in next long tr, work even to within 2 meshes of end, ch 4; yarn over 3 times, insert hook in next long tr and draw up a loop, over, take off 2 loops 3 times in succession, wrap yarn over hook 3 times, insert hook in 5th st of turning ch and draw up a loop (6 loops on hook), over, take off 2 loops 3 times in succession, over, take off 3 loops (a decreasing long tr), ch 5 turn.

Row 18: Skip ch 4, 1 long tr in next long tr, work 18 meshes, ch 4, work a decreasing long tr in last 2 long tr. Ch 5, turn.

Decrease 1 mesh each side of each of next 6 rows as in last Row. Ch 1, do not turn.

BORDER: Sew ends of a 22 inch piece of round elastic together. Working around elastic, work 2 sc in each mesh on entire outer edge, join with a slip st to first sc. Fasten off.
Make a tailored tie of ribbon and sew to front of snood.

*** note*** Along treble (according to the book) can be made by yo (Yarn over) any number of times and still drawing through 2 loops at a time, until one loop remains on hook.
I think I just did a regular treble crochet (tr) except where it stated. I would have to make this again to really remember. Good luck with this.



If you, as I, have no inclination what so ever to crochet, knit or sew... ;) Then you should check out these pretty snoods at Arthelias attic on Etsy. They are only 9.99 USD.

Going away for a while...

So I´m off to Africa and don´t know when my next post will be, but I´ll be back ! :)

I´ll leave you for now with this neat "receipe" for making your own nail polish.

How to Make Your Own Nail Polish Color

By Carly cooper

Are you tired of constantly seeing the same nail polish colors in store after store? Have you always wanted to purchase a specific color of nail polish, but never succeeded in finding it? Good news. Now, with just a few simple steps, you will be on your way to creating all sorts of different nail polish shades!

Here is what you will be needing:

1 regular sized index card 1 bottle of clear nail polish any color pigment (eye shadow colors work wonderfully) 1 mixing stick a paint brush

Directions:

What you're going to be doing first is to make sure you have an index card in front of you because this is where you will be doing all of your mixing. If you do not have an index card available, a paper plate works well also.

After you have got your index card in front of you, you are going to take your preferred color of pigment, or eye shadow color, and simply break away at the pieces, and let them fall on to the index card, plate, etc.

Once you have your desired color of pigment or eye shadow on your index card or plate, you will then take the bottle of clear nail polish and you will be pouring out just a tad bit more than you have of the eye shadow color. I suggest starting out with just a small sample of the eye shadow color and clear nail polish so that if you're not satisfied with the color, you won't be so wasteful.

After you have mixed the clear nail polish with the eye shadow pigments, you will then take your mixing stick (I like using manicure sticks), and you will carefully mix the nail polish and the pigments together until you start to see a new color appear. Keep mixing until the substance is milky. You do not want the nail polish color to be too gloppy or else your nails won't look so hot. Feel free to mix in a bit more of the clear nail polish if you notice that it's still too gloppy looking.

You should now have made your very own shade of nail polish color.

You can test it out on one of your nails to see whether or not you like the color. If you are not satisfied with the color you have made, simply find a new eye shadow color and repeat the same technique as stated above.

However, if you are content with the color, you will then take a new index card, and a nail polish bottle that contains clear polish inside. Now, you will fold the index card in the shape of a funnel, place the pointy end of the index card inside of the nail polish bottle, and pour the whole rest of the eye shadow pigments inside.

After you have done this, you will then shake up the nail polish bottle to make sure it mixes well. If you would like, you can also take an art paint brush, and mix in the pigments inside of the nail polish bottle by simply placing the paint brush inside of the bottle and stir in a circular motion.

Beauty has many colours..

It´s been difficult to find vintage fashion pictures of women of colour. But there is always the exquisitely beautiful Lena Horne !

A transforming product - lipstick !

Lipstick is a great invention ! :) It really can change your appearance !

   Although I think Dita looks very 

sweet without make up too !

MAC LIPSTICKS

A lot of vintage girls use Mac. I love Mac ( although I´ve recently discovered Bobby Brown ! ) Mac has a lot of pigments in their products which is why they have such a vivid colours. They also have a good range of matte lipsticks which is great, as they stay on longer. Then, if you want a little shine, you can simply do so by adding  a litte lip gloss. Just dab a bit on the middle of your upper and lower lip for a nice "sexy "pout" ! ;)

Mac  has two great "reds"  - Ruby Woo  (left) and  Russian Red (right) 

( the images does not do the two colours full justice ) 

I have Russian Red which is a great colour when you want a lipstick that has blues in it, yet works well with warm olive toned skin.

Here is a sweet 1940s tutorial on make up !

Make your own Cold Cream !

The lovely Fleur de Guerre wrote a post about that most classical of creams - cold cream. This was such a staple ware in the the lives of the 1940s woman. She would use it to clean her face with or use it as a face mask in the evening. Read Fleurs post here.

For those of you vintage lovers that want to try making your own I found the below recipe. I made one little addition, some rose oil for fragrance. If any one of you ladies give it a go, please let me know how it went.

Also, if you like making your own skincare products, you might want to try the recipe for Floral Water that I posted on my other blog.

HOMEMADE COLD CREAM

1/4 teaspoon borax

1/4 cup distilled water

1/2 cup oil that is liquid at room temperature (Almond is nice)

1/2 ounce (by weight) grated beeswax ( about 2 tbs )

If possible work with glass containers as it can get a little messy.

1. Dissolve the borax in the water. Set aside.

2. Mix together the oil and beeswax.

3. Heat the oil/beeswax mix in a microwave until the beeswax is melted in and the mixture is clear. Or you can put the beeswax in a container that you then put in a pot of water. When the water starts boiling the wax will slowly melt.

4. Heat the borax/water mix in a microwave or on the stove for a minute - almost to boiling.

5. Slowly pour the borax/water mixture into the oil/beeswax mixture, using a stick blender to mix as you pour.

6. Beat very well with the stick blender until the mix is glossy white and slightly thick. If you wish you can put a few drops of essential rose oil into a little almond oil and mix in for fragrance.

7. Pour the (hot) cold cream into a jar with a lid and let it cool to room temperature.

NOTE: If you don't have a stick blender you can beat the cold cream with a whisk or in a regular blender, but the cleanup will be much more difficult.... By using glass containers and a stick blender you will be able to simply wipe most of the excess off with paper towels, then wash in hot soapy water. Cleaning plastic measuring cups, and a whisk or (worse yet) a blender of this wax-containing product is difficult and a pain in the neck....

How to refill a vintage powder compact

Another great beauty recipe ! I have several compacts that it would be nice to be able to use.

You will need

A vintage compact

Some loose face powder

Rubbing alcohol

A small bowl and something to stir with

A spoon

1. Remove the net from the compact ( if there is one ), as well as any powder left inside.

2. Clean the compact with rubbing alcohol.

3. In a a small bowl, mix loose powder of your choice with a small amounts of alcohol, a little at a time. Stir to make a smooth creamy paste.

4. When your done, fill the base of your compact with the paste. You can use the back of an alcohol dipped spoon to smooth out the mixture. Or you can use something that will leave a fine imprint, like a piece of cloth.

5.  Let the compact dry opened overnight. Then your´re ready to go !

Morning becomes me... ;)

Ms Rosina Lee wrote a really neat post on gloves on her blog. It´s great - check it out ! Here is as promised, a picture of my vintage 1940s much loved dressing gown.

Sweet dreams are made of this ...

I love a fabulous dressing gown. I have one myself that I bought (for far to much money... ) on eBay. Will post a pic. tomorrow. Goodnight ladies !

Housecoats - a modern days morning robe ?

A housecoat or a duster, was worn when women in the 1940s were cleaning their house in order to protect what they were wearing for the day. Housecoats, long buttoned robes of light fabric ( but could also be made of warmer material ) became popular since they covered more than aprons or pinafores. A housecoat was an informal evening wear, usually roomy with buttons or a zip in front. Lengths were knee length or longer. Another way to use it was as robe over ones underwear, for instance when you needed to do hair or put on makeup.

Blouses of the 1940s

Blouses in the 1940s were worn losely over shirts or tucked in.They could also be worn with a belt.

Sleeves could be long with wristbands or cuffs that were buttoned or they could be short & puffed at the shoulders.

To Dream about...

What Katie did


I´ve wanted a corset for a long time, but feel I need to loose some weight first... On the other hand that IS the whole idea with a corset, I mean to hold in what you already have ;) My favourite shop is "What Katie did" - I LOVE everything I see there ! This pink corset is another little daydream of mine !

Here´s how you put on a corset correctly.

Perhaps I´m a little blog addicted, hm... ?

I must admit I think I´ve been seriously bitten by "the blog bug"... :) No truly. I have far too much fun posting and collecting images. I´m afraid I am quite behind with everything else that I need to do...

So, I leave you now with this quote from the exquisitely beautiful Marlene Dietrich !

Pink Polyvore

Roses anyone ? by divaabsoluta featuring Christian Louboutin shoes

Have a very pink day by divaabsoluta featuring Forever21